The Algerian writer Ahlem Mosteghanemi made her name with a
trilogy of novels: Dhakirat al-Jasad (1993), Fawda al Hawass (1997) and Abir
Sarir (2003), all published by Dar al-Adab of Beirut. The novels were
bestsellers, with claimed sales of more than 2 million copies and the author
having the status of a glamorous celebrity. Now Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation
Publishing (BQFP) has published an English version of Nessyane.com, under the
title The Art of Forgetting, translated by Raphael Cohen. The Nessyane.com
project is complemented by an Arabic website (at www.nessyane.com) and an Art
of Forgetting/Nessyane.com Facebook page.

The cover of The Art of Forgetting makes it look like a
self-help book of the type that has proliferated in the US and UK in recent
decades. The covers of such books typically have no picture, but boldly carry
their aims and message in the emblazoned title and subtitle. The subtitle of
Mosteghanemi’s book is: “Love him as no woman has ever loved and forget him
like a man forgets.” This would appear to put her in similar territory to that
of American author John Gray’s hugely successful self-help book Men Are From
Mars, Women Are From Venus which stresses the differences between men and women
in love relationships.

But The Art of Forgetting is different from a conventional
self-help book. It draws much of its inspiration from literature, and is
refreshingly free of psychobabble or 12-point plans. And rather than being
over-earnest in tone Mosteghanemi’s approach is one of humour and playfulness.
She says she wrote the book with “a great deal of sarcasm. I want you to laugh;
nothing deserves sadness.”

The Art of Forgetting is intended as the first of four books
on “the four seasons of love”, which Mosteghanemi identifies as “the wondrous
season of encounter, the jealous season of longing, the agonised season of
separation and the splendid season of forgetting”.

On the cover of The Art of Forgetting is a red circle
containing the words “Not for Sale to Men”. But Mosteghanemi denies that her
book is “male-bashing” or a feminist manifesto. “It is a women’s inventory
against masculinity and in defence of man, that captivator to whose charms we
are proud to fall victim, because without him we would be neither feminine nor
women”. She quotes approvingly in the book from many male Arab authors.

Mosteghanemi makes some sweeping assertions, in a
semi-joking manner. For example she states that Arab women of all ages, who
have grown up with the idea of the father-leader, “reject younger men and go
for others whose grey hairs hold out no hope”. And “what’s truly amazing is
that men, on account of their suffering from the Arab rooster complex, have
more faith in women who lie . . . the more games she plays, the greater his
trust in her.”

The book is divided into a dozen sections, with titles such
as “advice worth a herd of camels”, “telephone oblivion”, “the ambushes of
memory and “the tango of forgetting”. Within the sections are short chapters of
typically one to three pages. Readers are invited to sign “the charter of
female honour” on page 233 of the
book (and at www.nessyane.com).

Among the author’s many recommendations is “make your
memories into tabbouleh”, drawing inspiration from the giant “memory shredder”
set up in Time Square on New Year’s Eve. “In the absence of a shredder, enter the
kitchen of love and shred everything that has become a source of irritation and
pain in your life.”

Publication of The Art of Forgetting is the first fruit of
BQFP’s extensive commitment to publishing Mosteghanemi’s work in English.
Raphael Cohen is translating her trilogy:
Memory in the Flesh is due to be published by BQFP this July, and Chaos
of the Senses and Bed Hopper in 2013. The first two novels in the trilogy were
earlier published by American University in Cairo Press (in English translation
by Baria Ahmar Sreih); AUC Press subsequently republished Memory in the Flesh
with revisions by Peter Clark.

The Art of Forgetting mingles the profound with the
frivolous. There are chapters on spirituality and prayer: “don’t place your
confidence in a man who has turned away from God after being seduced by worldly
matters.” On a more indulgent level there is a chapter on “chocolate is your
weapon”. The book is itself rather like a box of assorted chocolates to be
dipped into; some of its chapters are soft and sweet, others are dark and
mysterious, crunchy with a bite, or unexpected like a salted caramel.